The Texas Education Agency is taking significant steps by replacing the elected school boards of the Beaumont, Connally, and Lake Worth school districts, as announced by Education Commissioner Mike Morath on Thursday.
Under state law, Morath has the authority to close a campus or appoint new leadership if any school within a district receives five consecutive failing grades in Texas’ academic accountability system. Each of the aforementioned districts has met this criterion.
This latest wave of takeovers adds to a growing list of districts undergoing state intervention, which notably includes two of the largest districts in Texas: Fort Worth and Houston. The Fort Worth school board has indicated its intention to appeal the commissioner’s decision, which was disclosed in October.
In August, the education agency identified five school districts at risk of intervention after experiencing five years of unsatisfactory ratings. Since then, plans have been announced to take over four of them: Fort Worth, Lake Worth, Connally, and Beaumont ISDs. Morath has yet to clarify whether he will act on the fifth district, Wichita ISD.
Takeovers were once a rarity in Texas, but their frequency has increased over the past decade, largely due to a 2015 law that facilitated state intervention after five consecutive failing grades. This legislation also broadened the commissioner’s powers to initiate special investigations, which could lead to an intervention.
The A-F grading system mainly relies on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, a standardized exam set to be replaced in 2027, as approved by lawmakers this year.
Prior to 2015, El Paso was the only district in Texas to experience an academic takeover due to a significant cheating scandal. Since the enactment of the new law, the education agency has officially taken control of three districts due to low academic performance: Marlin, Shepherd, and Houston.
Morath and state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles defend the intervention in Houston ISD, citing improved test scores over the past two years as evidence of its necessity. Every tested subject has shown student improvement, with none of the district’s campuses receiving an F in the state’s accountability ratings for the 2024-25 school year, a substantial turnaround from the 56 underperforming campuses recorded in 2022-23.
However, the intervention has faced considerable backlash. There has been a surge in teacher departures, thousands of students have unenrolled, and concerns have arisen that the district’s progress may be attributable, at least in part, to an excessive focus on testing and the reassignment of students to less challenging math and science courses.
